Monday, September 24, 2012

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and her Happy Meals

I
remember seeing my first McDonald’s restaurant sometime in 1960
or perhaps it was in ’61; and I think it was in Sioux City, Iowa. It was pretty
amazing and I was not unimpressed with the hamburger and fries. It
was nothing nearly as good as what my old man served back in his
luncheonette in Chester, NJ, but it was a great gimmick and the prices
were cheap.

She’s
incredible, this Congresswoman from Minnesota, and just when you think she
can’t out-do herself she does!by Charlie
Leck

Listening to
Representative Bachmann talk about American History is like listening to a
drunk trying to cough up a handful of popcorn kernels he’s choked on! Really!
They both actually make about the same degree of sense.

Congresswoman
Bachman got into the 47 percent discussion in the last couple of days. Geez,
you would think she’d have a staff that would have the sense to advise her occasionally
to keep quiet. I don’t want to ridicule her! Why can’t she just keep quiet?

Everyone is
America should have to pay something, Ms. Bachmann told the video camera – even
if it’s only the price of two Happy Meals
– about ten dollars.

Democracy isn’t
free, she told the camera, and everyone should have to pay something! Everyone
benefits from this great country.

“Everyone can
afford to pay, at least, that!” She meant at least the cost of two Happy Meals!

I just read the
following in a fortune cookie: “Kindness is the ability to love someone more
than they really deserve!”

I’m trying to be
kind here. Congresswoman Bachmann is trying hard. She’s working at it. I mean
she doesn’t say this stupid stuff to be funny. Lots of people say she really
knows better. Actually, to be fair and kind, I don’t think she does, but she’s
trying

Somehow, on the
day God was passing out brains, Ms. Bachmann skipped the assembly so she could
go over to McDonald’s for a Happy Meal. So, we ought to be kind to
her and more patient with the really silly nonsense she is constantly spewing.
She really does think everyone can
afford to pay federal income taxes.

She does! Even
with the cost of gasoline and food these days! Even though they also have to
pay community taxes, county taxes, sales taxes and state taxes.

I don’t think
Ms. Bachmann understands there is some really harsh poverty in America. No, no,
don’t laugh at her. Be kind! I don’t think she really understands. Ms. Bachmann
is so enchanted with the mega-millionaires in the nation that she’s become
starry-eyed and can’t see what would seem
so obvious.

Ms. Bachman
thinks that even people with no
income should pay “income” taxes – even if it’s only the price of two Happy Meals! Perhaps she didn’t mean it.
Is it possible she’s sharpening a bit for an appearance on Jon Stewart’s show?

So, a retired
couple, trying to buy food and pay for the energy costs in their home and
properly clothe themselves on their Social Security checks (which is their
previously earned money and which they must declare on income tax returns), should have
to pay at least some amount of “income” tax.

Congresswoman
Bachmann doesn't realize that Mitt said the 47 percent are made up of three types of people and, in
confusion, she lumps them together. I’m sorry Ms. Bachmann! Maybe someone could
explain this to you.

The 47 percent,
Mitt Romney said, are the folks who are going to vote for President Obama
anyway! Right? Now, Ms. Bachmann, those numbers would include me – and my wife.
We are, indeed, going to vote for President Obama. We are not poor and we do
pay at least the cost of two Happy Meals
in income taxes. Now, madam, Mitt said there are 47 percent of Americans who do
get some sort of government benefit. Yup, I’m in that group also. I do get a
monthly Social Security check and I do have to pay taxes on that income (even
though it is money I made and paid into this federal savings plan). And
finally, the last group Romney lumped into that 47 percent are people who don’t
pay federal income taxes. Well, unfortunately or fortunately, I’m not in that
group.

Yet, it seems
statistically true that 47 percent of Americans on a given year don’t pay
federal income tax. Wow! Ms. Bachmann, all of those, in that group, are not
poor people and are not always people who will vote for President Obama. There
are quite a few wealthy people who’ve managed to avoid paying income taxes in
one way or another through the mega-loop-holes provided by our income tax system.
Or, they might be business people who actually lost money in a given year and
aren’t required to pay taxes. Some others of them are very poor people who
can’t afford to pay anything – not even the cost of two Happy Meals – even if you refuse to believe that. And then there
are lots of people in between those two sorts who, though they don’t qualify to
pay income taxes to the federal government, do pay lots of taxes of other sorts
– property tax, sales tax, school bond taxes, community taxes, county taxes and
state taxes. I pay all of those taxes listed here in addition to my federal
income taxes, Congresswoman. I’m still going to vote for President Obama.

I don’t mind
paying those taxes and I’d even be willing to pay a bit more if it would take
the pressure off people who cannot afford to be paying all those taxes
mentioned above. Go down to the capitol city of your own state sometime,
Congresswoman, and visit one of the homeless shelters – like the Union
Gospel Mission – and see
how many people need to come to them to be fed and sheltered because they can’t
afford even a single Happy Meal and
because MacDonald’s doesn’t have any
place where they can legally sleep. And that isn’t the only charity serving the
homeless in our area either, Congresswoman. There are a number of other
organizations doing the work also – like Sharing
and Caring Hands, Minneapolis
Homeless Shelter, Simpson
Housing Services, Catholic
Charities and St.
Anne’s Place. Most of
the people that these shelters serve can NOT even afford to pay the government
the cost of oneHappy Meal.

You must really know that, Congresswoman
Bachman. You must! If you don’t, I want to introduce you some time to Mary Jo
Copeland, the founder and director of Sharing
and Caring Hands, and
she can explain it to you. She’ll also explain to you that these are not pikers, Congresswoman, but they are
people in distress and in need of our compassion and assistance.

Congresswoman,
when government loses its compassion all hope will also be lost. Part of
government’s role in this world is to even the playing field so that all people
get a fair shot at a good life – with justice
and freedom for all.

I know these are
difficult concepts to understand, Ms. Bachmann; but give it a try! Please!

And, while you’re
at it, Congresswoman, read these comments that Bill Clinton made on a couple of
Sunday TV shows and it might be a little easier for you to understand the facts of life.

“First, they do pay taxes — they pay Social Security taxes,
they pay Medicare taxes, they pay state and local taxes,” he said. “Second,
they are out of the income tax pool for two reasons: one is the economic crash,
which lowered a lot of peoples’ incomes.… Now the second reason is interesting,
it’s a bipartisan reason in the past: it’s because of the combined impacts of
the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit.”

It's complicated, I know, but most people get it. I'd be happy to buy you a Happy Meal sometime and explain it to you.

_________________________

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About Me

I write these blogs to leave behind a full picture of me for my grandchildren. I had no such snapshot of my own grandparents and what they believed and how they thought. Ad Astra, you probably know, is Latin for To the Stars. Without being literal about it, it's my final destination (where I "shall forever sit, triumphing over death, and chance, and Thee, O Time").